Wood mats, for example temporary road mats or work area mats of the type used in oil, logging and mining industries, are known to facilitate equipment transportation or vehicle traffic in areas where permanent roads are non-existent or too expensive and were the ground is not stable enough to regularly support heavy equipment. Wood mats often comprise multiple layers of wooden boards or timbers which are fastened together so that each layer of timbers spans across the timbers of a previous layer in an intersecting manner. Fastening is required at these intersections. Some mats may be provided with interlocking portions in the form of fingers receivable within openings in adjacent mats to connect multiple mats in series to form a road way.
The following U.S. patents disclose various examples of temporary mats of the type used in roadways and the like for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,452 to Harrison; U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,037 to Phillips et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,336 to Waller, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,972 to Davis et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,408 to Stanley et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,149 to Waller, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,937 to Pouyer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,193 to Watson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,800 to Hicks; U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,337 to Sarver, U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,712 to Penland, Sr.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,944 to Penland, Sr.
In each instance in the prior art, fastening each timber to the intersecting timbers of adjacent layers is particularly labour intensive, resulting in costly labour to manufacture the mats. Furthermore known fastening types are either known to loosen or protrude after assembly so that in either instance protrusions result which can potentially cause damage to vehicle tires.